Led By Tucker Carlson, Fox News Remains Top Cable News Network

by Don Irvineon July 13, 2017

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Despite the departure of Bill O’Reilly amid accusations of sexual harassment, Fox News managed to finish No. 1 in primetime for the second quarter of the year. Fox News fended off a strong challenge from the resurgent MSNBC, thanks to a relatively strong performance by Tucker Carlson who replaced O’Reilly in April.

Even though Carlson lost some of The O’Reilly Factor’s overall audience, he bested O’Reilly in the key 25-54 year-old demographic, resulting in a 21 percent jump in ad rates, according to The Wall Street Journal.

This performance surprised many observers–read liberals, who were confident the turmoil at Fox would lead to surrendering it’s 15-year grip on the top spot.

Fox’s good ratings news is tempered though by the huge gains made by former cable news also-ran MSNBC, which has used it’s anti-Trump rhetoric to significantly close the gap between the network and Fox News.

MSNBC’s resurgence has been fueled by a 72 percent increase in the 25-54 year-old demo thanks to renewed interest in Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell, who have taken up the anti-Trump mantle and given liberals and leftists alike a channel where they can commiserate about the Trump administration.

The next test will be the third quarter where the new Fox lineup will have a full quarter’s performance to measure against MSNBC to see if it truly has steadied the network after what has been a tumultuous year.